Pakistan in Media

The re-naming of Northern Areas as ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ falls short of what the people who live in the area were wanting but removes at a stroke one of their minor irritations – that of being lumped together with NWFP by the media. The tourism industry – what is left of it – has long complained that this erroneous labelling of what is generally a quiet and peaceful region has done much to damage their business. Along with a new name comes a range of other changes, some minor but some major and all of them adding up to less than provincial status. The bottom-line demand of the people for decades has been that they be a part of Pakistan as citizens rather than — as they see it — subjects. They have been ruled from the centre since partition, and moreover ruled by political appointees whose origin is from outside the pool of ethnicities that make up Gilgit-Baltistan. There have been attempts at reform of the legal status of the area before, notably in 1973-4 and in 1994, and neither did much to satisfy local demands.
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